We fight for justice. We stand up for refugees.

Our mission: Fighting for justice and democracy

RSA (Refugee Support Aegean) is an independent legal organisation in Greece. We were established in 2017 by a group of people with years of experience in social struggles and in the field of asylum.

We operate in full financial and institutional independence from state funding and European programmes, safeguarding the autonomy of our public voice and our commitment to work that is genuinely needed.

The struggle for refugees’ rights is inseparable from the struggle for the rights, freedoms and justice that concern all of us.

• We exhaust all legal means to defend human dignity: we expose violations, pursue redress, put pressure on institutions and fight injustice.
• We understand solidarity as a political act, and as an integral part of the wider struggle for justice, democracy and equality.
• We fight alongside refugees, recognising them as individuals with agency, not as passive recipients of aid or as victims.

What we do

We intervene decisively in the field, before the courts and institutions through several interconnected activities:

• Militant, strategic litigation: We provide specialised legal assistance to refugees, focusing on pivotal cases capable of effecting wider institutional and jurisprudential change.
• Field research and documentation (data-driven research): We systematically and independently record rights violations at Greek borders and across the country. We maintain continuous presence in the field: on the Eastern Aegean islands, on Crete and on the mainland. We collect primary statistical data and official documents, ground our work on cross-checked evidence, and scientifically document all of our interventions to exert pressure on institutions.
• Social support and empowerment: We provide practical support to individuals, and particularly to the most vulnerable groups (survivors of torture, shipwrecks and systemic or gender-based violence, unaccompanied children), aiming at their empowerment and autonomous, dignified living.
• Advocacy and defence of the Rule of Law: We actively engage in public debate and with institutions. We expose systemic injustice and defend democratic freedoms, the right to a fair asylum procedure, the universal application of the principle of non-discrimination, strict adherence to the principle of non-refoulement, and the absolute prohibition of torture.
• Amplifying lived experience and public discourse: We give refugees a platform to be heard by feeding public debate with their own voices and stories, opposing narratives of victimisation and instrumentalisation of human suffering. Our focus is on people and their stories, contributing one more step in strengthening the reach of their voice. We connect refugee issues to the wider defence of democracy across society.

Key contributions and interventions

Together with refugees, until justice is done

Our presence in the field and in the courts translates into concrete political and institutional action with substantive impact. Below are some of the most emblematic cases, research reports and tools we help shape:

Litigation and redress before the ECtHR, the CJEU and the Greek Council of State

• Violations at sea and Greek Coast Guard accountability: Over the past decade, we have provided legal representation to refugees reporting serious human rights violations (right to life, prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment) during Hellenic Coast Guard operations. We have won landmark cases before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) such as the cases of Pserimos (Alkhatib v. Greece), Symi (Almukhlas v. Greece) and Agathonisi (F.M. v. Greece), as well as the landmark ruling on Farmakonisi (Safi v. Greece), supported together with a broad coalition of organisations. We actively and systematically contribute to monitoring the execution of these judgments in Greece.
• Legal assistance in shipwrecks, from the Aegean Sea to Pylos: We provide systematic legal assistance in multiple shipwreck incidents involving deaths or missing persons (Lesvos, Chios, Agathonisi, among others). Our assistance covers identification and burial procedures, recording of missing persons, legal representation of survivors and relatives in asylum proceedings, and action to investigate potential violations and to establish accountability. In the deadly Pylos shipwreck, we have undertaken the representation of survivors and victims’ families, taking an active part in a broad coalition of lawyers and organisations.
• “Safe third country”: Together with the Greek Council for Refugees (GCR), we represented the first Greek preliminary reference to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on asylum matters, concerning the rejection of applications on the grounds of Turkey’s designation as a “safe third country” for refugees. Following the CJEU’s ruling (C-134/23 Elliniko Symvoulio gia tous Prosfyges), the Greek Council of State put an end to the authorities’ unlawful practice of rejecting thousands of asylum applications even though Turkey was not accepting returns of people onto its territory.

Research, statistics and periodic reports

• Annual report on recognised refugees: Every year, together with the PRO ASYL Foundation, we publish an annual report on the situation and obstacles facing people with refugee status in Greece. The reports are regularly cited in court rulings from other states in cases concerning deportation of recognised refugees to Greece.
• Biannual statistical analysis: We systematically publish and analyse primary data (statistics) on reception, asylum, detention and the criminalisation of stay every six months.
• Living conditions & gender issues: We conduct systematic field research and publish reports on conditions in camps/facilities on the Greek islands and the mainland, with dedicated, ongoing monitoring of conditions for refugee women and gender issues.
• Rule of law initiatives: We have founded and coordinate a coalition of 8 Greek civil society organisations for the systematic monitoring and recording of rule of law backsliding. We submit a joint annual report to the European Commission in the context of its annual rule of law monitoring mechanism, while undertaking joint advocacy and communications initiatives throughout the year.

Tools for the legal community

• Greek Asylum Case Law Report: A standing biannual initiative by RSA, GCR and HIAS Greece, which gathers, collates and highlights key excerpts of decisions from Greek courts, the Independent Appeals Committees and the Asylum Service in the field of asylum. We have collected excerpts from more than 800 rulings by Greek courts and authorities since the launch of the initiative. 

Fighting together: collaborations and networks

We firmly believe in the power of collective struggles. To strengthen our impact, we work closely with other civil society organisations, national and European networks, bodies and grassroots initiatives at national and European level:

• The PRO ASYL Foundation: RSA maintains institutional, operational and legal autonomy, while sustaining a long-standing relationship of cooperation and solidarity with the German foundation PRO ASYL. The PRO ASYL Foundation, established in 1986 as an independent voice defending human rights and refugee protection in Germany with long-standing pan-European activity, is a longstanding partner, funder and supporter of our work in Greece, through the “RSPA-Refugee Support Program Aegean”.
• European and international networks: RSA is a member of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE). We maintain steady operational cooperation and an open channel of communication with international organisations such as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), as well as with non-governmental organisations such as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), for case referrals, needs recording and joint field interventions.
• National networks and protection mechanisms: We are members of the Recording Mechanism of Informal Forced Returns and the Racist Violence Recording Network (RVRN). We take part in and organise national initiatives and working groups of lawyers and organisations to coordinate legal support on the islands and the mainland, with a chairing role in the Legal Aid Working Group since 2024. We are a member of the Campaign for Access to Asylum.
• Joint legal battles, collective initiatives and campaigns: We actively participate in broader civil society coalitions on pivotal legal cases (such as the Pylos shipwreck and the Farmakonisi case), as well as in collective initiatives such as rule of law monitoring in Greece.

• Grassroots initiatives and communities: We work closely with refugee and migrant communities, grassroots groups and local solidarity initiatives. Our aim is to help amplify their own voice, to shape demands together, and to build bonds of equal solidarity within society.

Our team

Behind the legal battles, research and documentation is an interdisciplinary team of lawyers, researchers, political scientists and social workers.

Photo: Marily Stroux

• Dimitris Tsouchlis – Administrator
• Natassa Strachini – Attorney | Coordinator of the RSA Team and Legal Team Coordinator
• Despina Alexiou – Attorney
• Eleni Velivassaki – Attorney
• Elpiniki Koukoula – Attorney
• Minos Mouzourakis – Attorney | Legal and Advocacy Officer
• Eleni Spathana – Attorney
• Marianna Tzeferakou – Attorney | Legal Team Coordinator
• Mohamed Belhedi – Interpreter
• Nasim Mohammadi – Interpreter | Certified Cultural Mediator
• Eirini Gaitanou – Communications Manager
• Efi Latsoudi – Social Scientist
• Chrisa Wilkens – Researcher
• Salinia Stroux – Social Anthropologist | Researcher
• Elias Chronopoulos – Associate Researcher | Digital Strategy 
• Irini Koti – Administrative Officer

Institutional framework & Statute

Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Chios, RSA operates as a civil non-profit company (AMKE).